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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29592078">Studies in Doing Our Due Diligence</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScreamingAtTheSky/pseuds/ScreamingAtTheSky'>ScreamingAtTheSky</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Community (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:15:16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,178</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29592078</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ScreamingAtTheSky/pseuds/ScreamingAtTheSky</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>So, one of my absolute favorite Community episodes is Advanced Criminal Law. I adore that episode because it is hilarious (of course) AND I think it gives us so much vital information about who Britta and Jeff <i>are</i>. I think it builds a beautiful foundation for how serious their relationship could become and just how important they could (and WOULD - you can't convince me otherwise) become to each other.</p>
<p>This little fic is just meant to be fun (rather than my usual deep declarations of love and overly emotional dialogue). It picks up right after that episode and tells the story of just how affected Britta might have been by Jeff's actions and, since she's feeling some type of way, she shows that by taking matters into her own hands - as I KNOW my girl would do!</p>
<p>I am terrible with the rating system on this, so I hope this rating is ok and none of this offends anyone!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Britta Perry/Jeff Winger</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>14</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Studies in Doing Our Due Diligence</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Jeff struts down the hallway, feeling particularly good about himself today. I mean, let’s be honest, he’s always rakishly good looking and generally the smartest guy in the room, especially here at Greendale Community College, so it’s hard to ever <i>not</i> feel good about himself, but today he’s walking with a little extra swagger. After all, even though it had taken place in front of the Greendale pool and the judge and jury had been comprised of three of the most insane, incompetent men he’d ever met, he’d gotten a chance to be a <i>lawyer</i> again yesterday. When Britta confessed to cheating on their Spanish test and then had to participate in a disciplinary hearing, he jumped to her defense – mainly because, as she’d surmised, he hoped she’d be so grateful to him for getting her off that she’d...well, the joke is too obvious, but also because it gave him a chance to flex the few vital muscles he couldn’t at the gym. It gave him a chance to make a case and find technicalities and wield the power of persuasion over weaker-minded people once again and it felt <i>fantastic</i>. Weird, but fantastic. Ultimately pointless, but fantastic. Speaking on Britta’s behalf in that hearing yesterday got his blood pumping in a way it hadn’t in a while, and it reminded him why he came to this school in the first place. He needed a bachelor’s degree so he could be a lawyer again – <i>above board</i> this time. </p>
<p>He’d been so taken aback by meeting Britta – this gorgeous woman who’d proven to be equally cool, passionate, and challenging – that he’d forgotten his goal of getting his law career back on track for a bit there. That goal had been replaced by a new one – to win Britta over and get in her pants. But something happened along the way – he realized he liked her. Like, <i>actually</i> liked her. Like, as a person. Which was new to him, and strange, and kind of great, so he continued to go with it, enjoying the little adventures they had together with the rest of the members of their Spanish study group, but neglecting his sole purpose in the process. Yes, he needed that “trial” to reignite the fire in him, the fire that burns for one thing and one thing only, and that one thing is <i>not</i> a beautiful, perplexing blonde. It’s a beautiful, authentic degree.</p>
<p>All that being said, it <i>had</i> been both interesting and enlightening getting to spend some time alone with Britta yesterday during the hearing. He’d intended to just swoop in and save her but, as it seemed was her way, she just couldn’t make it easy. He thought he’d convinced her to insist she didn’t cheat, but <i>she</i> decided she needed to be honest and so announced at the hearing that she <i>did</i>, in fact, create a crib sheet for the Spanish test after all. That was the interesting part. The enlightening part was what she admitted to him when he confronted her about her actions – she’d said she <i>wanted</i> to get caught cheating. She’d said she was so used to feeling worthless that she might as well get it over with and let everyone down. And then, most heart-wrenching of all, she’d called him out for only wanting to sleep with her, for not caring about being her friend at all. That was what really threw him – she actually thought he only wanted one thing from her. Fair enough, he wanted that <i>one thing</i>. But that wasn’t <i>all</i> he wanted. Surely the time they’d spent together meant something to both of them, something more than just the possibility of sex. So, he told her as much yesterday. He told her that he could have basically any woman he wanted, and the only reason he stuck it out with her is because he likes having her as a friend. Having more from her would be preferable but having nothing with her at all is <i>not</i> an option.</p>
<p>All these thoughts are playing through his mind as he approaches the door to Spanish 101 with Senor Chang, perhaps the craziest man on this entire campus (and with Greendale, that was saying a lot) when suddenly, he feels a vice grip around his forearm. Two long-fingered hands are wrapped around his sleeve and he looks down to see Britta staring up at him, eyes wide and cheeks flushed, like she’d run to catch up.</p>
<p>“Jeff,” she fires at him, “I need to talk to you!”</p>
<p>He’s too stunned by how abrupt she’s being to fight back; he lets her lead him into an empty classroom to their left. She practically throws him inside, closing the door quickly behind her. Then, with no warning, she uses her surprising strength to push him against the door and suddenly she’s grabbing him by his shirt collar and pulling him down to her level so that there is practically no space between them. She locks eyes with him for a second and he sees a look of determination cross her face before she presses her lips forcefully to his. He’s so stunned by this at first that he doesn’t respond, he just lets her kiss him, his arms straight at his sides, his eyes still open in shock. Her hands, though, are going everywhere she can reach – up and down his back, along his neck and shoulders, and, the best sensation he’s had in a long time, in his hair.</p>
<p>A groan comes out from deep within his own throat and that awakens something in him. Finally, his body catches up to hers and he springs into action. He pushes his body off the door so that he can stand taller and grabs her face in his hands while he kisses her back. He explores every inch of her mouth with his tongue, allowing himself to just taste her, to take her in in all her defiant anarchist glory. She tastes like cigarettes and mint toothpaste and her hair smells of vanilla. He rakes his fingers through her blonde waves and pulls her head backward gently so that he can suck on her neck and throat. Her breath is coming out quick and hot in his ear and she’s even better than he imagined she would be – and he’d imagined a lot. At one point, he does something with his tongue that she must particularly like because she lifts her right leg up, bending it at the knee and wrapping it around his thigh, almost as if she’s trying to climb him like a tree. And he’s pretty sure he’d let her. She’s so free like this, so powerful, he can’t really get over it – she’s Britta, but even more intense, which he would have thought impossible had he not been seeing it for himself right now.</p>
<p>He breaks apart from her suddenly. He’s not sure if he’s too overwhelmed by what’s happening or if he’s afraid of pushing her too far (even though, she did start this), but whatever his subconscious is thinking, it’s forcing him to grab her by her upper arms and push her away from him a little. They’re still facing each other, both catching their breath and transfixed by the energy in the room, the way the air around them is mixed with what they were just doing and the possibility of what they could <i>still</i> do.</p>
<p>“Well, you made some really good points,” Jeff quips, raising his eyebrows at her. He wants to ask what all this is, what it means, but he doesn’t really want to ruin the purity of this moment.</p>
<p>Britta stares at his mouth while he talks and that’s so arousing to him that he instinctually pulls her even closer to him. She must feel how excited he is because she quickly looks down and then smirks up at him, nodding. “Mm,” she hums, “and I have more to say. So, don’t interrupt me.”</p>
<p>She stands on her tiptoes in an attempt to kiss him again, but Jeff is feeling a little more take-charge this time, now that he has more of a handle on what’s happening. So, he doesn’t kiss her back, not yet. Instead, he spins them around so that her back is to the door now. He lifts her up by grabbing her under her ass and she gasps, but her body gets less offended than her mind and she wraps her legs around his waist and clings to him like he’s her only lifeline. He presses her against the door and kisses her with every ounce of strength he has. She tightens her legs even more around his waist and their bodies are flush and this is better than any encounter between them that he’d pictured in his mind during boring lectures at Greendale and long showers at home because this is real, <i>she’s</i> real. They’d kissed once already, a couple weeks ago, and it had been amazing, some might even say life-changing, but this was different because this time she was letting her body say the things that he knew her mouth never would. This is animalistic and raw, like their bodies are fused together from some kind of chemical reaction. He knows things about her now that he didn’t before. He knows that her short fingernails feel so good scratching the skin at the nape of his neck. He knows she makes these little mewling sounds every time he kisses her in a certain spot just under her left ear. He knows that if he holds her by her waist and lets his fingers slip under her shirt, he can feel that she has the softest skin of any woman he’s ever been with. And he knows she’ll <i>let</i> him glide his fingers over her creamy skin because she feels safe. And now that he knows these things, he is certain he’ll never be able to forget them.</p>
<p>As suddenly as she started their tryst, she ends it just as abruptly by placing a hand to his chest and pushing him away from her ever so slightly. He can’t help the sigh that escapes his lips. Even only inches apart, she’s still too far from him now. The spell has been broken.</p>
<p>He lets her down slowly, enjoying the way her body feels rubbing against his on the way. She’s so tiny, and he’s so tall, and yet, their bodies fit together like puzzle pieces. That’s something else he knows now, something else he’ll be cataloguing in his mind for a rainy day.</p>
<p>Neither of them speaks for what feels like a full minute. Finally, Jeff breaks their silence because he has to know what’s going on.</p>
<p>“So,” he starts, and she rolls her eyes preemptively at his question, “not that I’m complaining, big fan of your definition of <i>talking</i> by the way, but what the hell was <i>that</i>?”</p>
<p>She laughs, looking down at the floor and playing with the zipper on her leather jacket. Her face is scrunched when she looks up at him again to answer. “I don’t know really. I guess I just...didn’t want anything between us to be ‘off the table’.” She puts her last three words in air quotes since she’s using the same words he did during their heart-to-heart yesterday. </p>
<p>Jeff nods because that’s all he can do. He doesn’t want anything between them off the table either. Maybe on the table, but that’s a fantasy for another day. </p>
<p>Jeff clears his throat. “Ok, so then, do you think we might...<i>finish</i> this conversation some other time?”</p>
<p>They stare at each other closely, both knowing <i>exactly</i> what he’s asking (he’s pretty sure the vacant desks in the room know what he’s asking by now) and just how telling her response will be. Woman of mystery that she is, she simply flashes him one of her classic close-lipped smiles.</p>
<p>“Guess we’ll just have to wait and see,” she says, shrugging. She places her hands on his chest and a quick kiss to his lips, but somehow, it’s more of a hello than a goodbye. He’s not sure how she does it. She’s just...<i>Britta</i>. “We better go. We’ll be late for Spanish.”</p>
<p>And just like that, she spins on her heels and is out the door, leaving Jeff standing there bewildered, and more than a little turned on. He shakes his head as he leaves the classroom. <i>That woman is a hurricane</i>, he thinks to himself. And though hurricanes are bad, he can’t help but smile as he takes his seat next to her in Spanish 101. She catches his eye and winks before opening her book to Chapter 2 like Chang just asked the class to do.</p>
<p><i>Wait and see</i>. Yeah. He could do that. Because as gratifying as it had felt to be a lawyer again yesterday, that was <i>nothing</i> compared to the excitement coursing through his veins <i>right now</i>. Maybe a bachelor’s degree wasn’t all he was hoping to get out of Greendale anymore. <i>Wait and see</i>…</p>
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